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The Haunted Painting is Revealed!

Yesterday, on Halloween, the infamous Haunted Painting (The Hands Resist Him) was revealed at Perception Gallery in Grand Rapids, Michigan. We featured the story of the painting in our October issue which told of a surrealist painting auctioned on Ebay with the warning that it was possessed. Stories of supernatural and tragic events followed the painting as the original painter was sought. The unveiling of the painting is documented after the jump so be warned that you may be subject to supernatural happening from just viewing them...

Read the full story in the October 2013 issue of Juxtapoz Magazine, available here.

Excerpt from our October 2013 feature on the painting:

What kind of power could a single painting possess? Can a simple image shut down machines, make someone physically ill, even cause death? It all depends on what you are willing to believe.

In the year 2000, a surrealist oil painting was posted for auction on eBay. The 36" x 24" canvas featured the image of a young boy with a domed forehead and deadly stare. Standing next to him is a doll-like girl holding a dry cell battery, and behind them, floating hands press against the glass of a French window.

The posting included a shocking disclaimer: a warning that the painting was possessed. It claimed that the boy and girl would come to life at night. They would argue and the doll would point a gun at the boy, causing him to flee from the painting. The frightened seller claimed it terrified her children and included a request for help in cleansing her house of evil spirits.

In the end, the ostensibly lucky bidder was an art dealer named Kim L. Smith, who owned Perception Gallery in Grand Rapids, Michigan, and discovered the title of the painting on the back of the canvas: The Hands Resist Him. Not long after, he tracked down the artist who had painted it, Oakland, California-based Bill Stoneham.

This story is so intriguing that I decided to make a documentary investigating the urban myth surrounding the so-called “haunted painting.” – Gregg Gibbs